The Davidian Massacre by Carol Moore

CHAPTER FIVE

BATF ACTIONS LED TO TEN DEATHS

 

I thought I was going to die that day.  I thought I was going to get blown away. . .Put in that situation where you've got women and children crying and screaming, "Oh, my God, please help us, save us, do something!  They're shooting at us!". . .You do anything, you pick up anything you can, if your life is threatened, to defend yourself.  And you do your best to live another day or live another hour or another minute.

Kevin Whitecliff before sentencing1/

 

          BATF's violent attack resulted in the deaths of five Davidians--four may have been killed by shots fired from helicopters.  Considering the amount of gunfire directed at the Davidians from the helicopters and from ground fire, it is amazing so few were injured or killed.  Koresh did tell KRLD radio on February 28 that his two-year-old daughter had been killed.  Jaime Castillo explains that some of Jaydean Wendell's blood fell on the child and in the confusion it was explained to Koresh that the child had died.2/  Other Davidians besides David Koresh not mortally wounded included Judy Schneider who sitting in a chair when the firing began.  David Jones was wounded in the gluteus maximus and Scott Sonobe in the leg.3/
        Rather than take responsibility for the deaths of the five Davidians who died during or shortly after the raid, the government has labelled them  "ambushers."  At trial, prosecutors falsely claimed Davidians "not only killed ATF, they killed their own.  People who were too wounded to fight were put out of their misery."4/
        While there is no evidence Davidians ambushed BATF, it is clear they were forced to take up weapons to defend themselves.  While they probably killed and injured BATF agents, some agents were hit by friendly fire.  Later that afternoon BATF agents killed a possibly unarmed Davidian who was trying to return to Mount Carmel.

EVIDENCE AGENTS SHOT FROM HELICOPTERS

        The Treasury report claims that when the National Gaurd helicopters got within 350 meters of the building, they were fired upon and forced back.5/  At trial helicopter pilots alleged the lead helicopter was hit by three shots and the other two by one shot each.6/  However, Davidians allege that agents in one or more helicopters started unprovoked firing at them as they arrived at the north side of the building and continued to pass back and forth over the building, firing at will, for several minutes.  They claim there were over 100 bullet holes from the agents in helicopters shooting into the walls and roofs.  The three largest Davidian lawsuits, filed by the Cause Foundation, Ramsey Clark and Caddell & Conwell, all charge there was firing from helicopters.7/
          In KPOC-TV's "Incident at Waco," investigator Gordon Novel charged, "In Vietnam, when they would attack a building like this, they would shoot up the ceiling so everyone would get down."  Indiscriminate firing into a building from helicopters, especially that which killed unarmed civilians, would open agents to prosecution for negligent or intentional homicide."8/  If Mount Carmel had stood and the public discovered agents fired indiscriminately from helicopters had killed four Davidians, citizens and politicians would have demanded prosecutions.
          When questioned by the author during a May, 1995 televised debate about whether agents should be charged with murder should evidence of lethal firing be revealed, former BATF Director Stephen E. Higgins, who approved the raid, replied, "Absolutely.  If they fire at someone who was not firing at them or pointing a weapon at them it would absolutely be murder.  The rules of the federal government and other law enforcement officials are that you can only fire when you are trying to save your own life or lives of other innocent people."  Higgins did not believe the agents were firing from helicopters.9/  However, if this was his attitude as head of the Bureau, BATF agents would have had much to fear.  There is substantial evidence that BATF agents did shoot from at least one helicopter.  Below is the substantial evidence that BATF agents shot from at least one and possibly two helicopters.

Davidian Allegations
          Davidians in the back of the building claim first shots came from the helicopters.  In the "Day 51" video Catherine Matteson, 77, states: "I heard three helicopters.  The reason I knew there were three was I looked out the window and I could see they were firing on us. . .I was in the back of the building.  That's where my room was. And they were firing towards David's room.  And they turned and when they turned I fell to the floor cause I could see that those bullets could hit me if I was standing.  They went to the front of the building.  And it seemed like by the time they got to the front, they were firing again. . .Definitely.  They were the only ones I heard and saw at the time.  They were coming in on the helicopters.  There was no one else firing."
          In the same video another elderly woman, Annetta Richards, recounts: "I was actually getting ready for worship.  I heard a noise like a helicopter and then I heard bullets start firing, bullets start coming in from every direction.  And the helicopters were flying over the building.  The sound of it was so low that at that time I thought they had landed on the roof.  Bullets were coming from all directions."
          Marjorie Thomas, a Davidian severely burned in the fire, agreed to testify for the prosecution in exchange for immunity.  In her video taped testimony Thomas said she was in her third floor room overlooking the tornado shelter when she noticed her roommates looking out the window.  She looked out and saw three helicopters approaching.  The lead one was shining a bright light, as one helicopter pilot admitted at trial.  "I could see a person hanging from one side of the helicopter, because it was that close."  Since she could see him from "the waist, down," his legs obviously were hanging outside the aircraft.
          On the March 8, 1993 video tape sent out to the FBI Thomas said, "One minute you're looking out of the windown seeing three helicopters and the next minute you're on the floor with bullet shells flying all over your head."  At trial she said, "As the helicopter drew nearer, I heard a sound.  It was a bullet coming, which came through the window and shattered the blinds.  We all dived to the floor.  We moved from the window and dived to the floor on hearing the bullets flying over our heads."  While she could not swear the bullets came from the helicopter, she saw no BATF agents on the ground.  At least one bullet went through the third story window closest to the driveway.10/  Agents may have thought the women were armed and purposively fired upon them.
          Clive Doyle told interviewer Gary Null why he was convinced Winston Blake, a 28 year old black man from England, was shot from a helicopter.  Blake's room was next to the three plastic water tanks at the northwest corner of the building.  "I could see Winston laying down in a pool of water.  The water tank, which was right up against his window, was riddled with bullets.  Since the tank was at an angle, I would almost bet my life on it that Winston was shot from a helicopter.  That was the only thing out there that could shoot at that angle.  There weren't any buildings there.  There weren't any ATF people on the ground would be able to shoot at that angle."  Jaime Castillo confirms that bullets came in at that angle.11/
           In late March, 1993 Rita Riddle told reporters there was "no question" agents fired from helicopters.  "They say these helicopters were not armed?  Bull puck.  I heard them spraying the building when they went over."12/  In the March 28, 1993 taped interview with attorney Dick DeGuerin, David Koresh denied that Davidians fired on helicopters before the cattle trailers arrived and challenged BATF's claim that BATF agents did not fire on Davidians from helicopters.13/  The negotiation audio tapes reveal that both Steve Schneider and David Koresh informed negotiators of the firing.14/
          Psychologist Bruce D. Perry, who interviewed Davidian children who left Mount Carmel after the raid, described a child drawing a picture of a house beneath a rainbow.  "When Perry asked, `Is there anything else?' the child calmly added bullet holes in the roof."15/
          At trial Kathryn Schroeder said she saw a bullet holes in the ceiling and walls of the four story tower.16/  During allocution before sentencing Davidian prisoner Kevin Whitecliff said he was scared when he heard women and children screaming as agents began their raid: "There were three or four helicopters buzzing around shooting at people.  I thought I was going to die."17/
          At allocution Renos Avraam tried to call to the stand BATF investigator Davy Aguilera, who was in one of the helicopters, to prove that helicopter pilots had lied when they denied there was shooting from the helicopters.  When Judge Walter Smith would not permit it, Avraam asserted BATF came "with helicopters blazing.  Davy Aguilera, he was firing one of them.  He ain't going to deny it.  Helicopters blazing."  Avraam bitterly complained that National Guard helicopter pilots perjured themselves. He himself saw the firing on February 28th.18/
          Fifteen minutes into the raid, in their second phone call to 9-1-1, Davidians complain frantically to Lieutenant Lynch about helicopters firing on them as nearly continuous gunfire can be heard in the background.

          Wayne Martin:  Another chopper with more people; more guns going off. They're firing. That's them, not us.
          Steve Schneider: There's a chopper with more of them.
          Lt. Lynch:  What!?
          Schneider:  Another chopper with more people and more guns going off.  Here they come!
          Lynch:  All right, Wayne, tell. . .
          Schneider:  We're not firing.  That's not us, that's them!
          Lynch:  All right.  Standby.  I'm tryin' to reach 'em.  Stand.  Don't return fire, okay?
          Schneider:  We haven't been.
          Lynch:  What?
          Schneider:  We haven't been.

          Later in the 9-1-1 tape Martin demands: "Don't land any more choppers," and "We don't want any more choppers out here."19/  At trial both Judge Smith and the prosecutors tried to dismiss these statements as "self-serving," implying that panicky civilians would make up such a story for some nefarious purpose!20/

KWTX-TV Video Shows Shots Fired From Sky
          The frequently shown KWTX-TV video of an agent being shot at through the wall of the second story room displays clear evidence that at least four bullets were fired from above, even as the sounds of helicopters flying overhead can be heard.  "Waco, the Big Lie Continues" slows down the video and points out obvious bullet entries from overhead into the roof, eaves, and wall.  While BATF agents alleged in court that Davidians were firing at them from the four story tower,21/ the trajectory of the bullets appears much too steep to have come from the tower.
          The holes are shot through the roof right after an agent appears to fire into the arms room, so it is possible Davidians were defending against that agent's attack.  However, it also possible that an agent in a helicopter, seeing the other agent shooting into the room (and not knowing there were already three agents inside) attempted to help him by shooting in as well!
          Many suspect KWTX-TV managers, fearful of offending the government and the Federal Communications Commission, edited out even more damaging evidence of helicopter and other illegal gunfire.  At trial KWTX-TV cameraman Dan Mulloney stated that although he was on the scene for more than two hours and brought four hours of video tape, he shot only 17 minutes of video because he was trying to save tape.  He asserted that the video shown by prosecutors "was not edited, it was shot from the camera. The glitches and things were myself turning the camera on and off.  But it did come from a raw tape, and I'm not familiar who dubbed in down from the raw master tape."   However, he then admitted that prosecutors had not show some film at the end of the tape, where BATF agents had physically assaulted and knocked him down.22/  It is likely Mulloney does not remember every inch of tape shot and that some could have been edited out without his knowledge.  There has been no explanation for why in some of the audio--especially of shots while the agents are on the roof--the sounds of gunfire and aircraft overflying the building cut in and out so erratically.

Attorneys' Statements and Testimony
          Davidian attorneys Dick DeGuerin and Jack Zimmermann, who visited Mount Carmel during the siege, insist that there was extensive evidence that BATF agents shot indiscriminately through Mount Carmel's front doors, walls and roof.  They were very concerned with preserving this evidence of an out-of-control assault.
          In early April, 1993 the New York Times reported, "both lawyers clearly believed that helicopters flying over the compound during the raid had fired into upper floors of the main building from above."  BATF Spokesperson Jerry Singer denied this.  "The helicopters did not overfly the compound on Feb. 28 and I have no information that anyone fired from the helicopters."  However, Jack Zimmermann stated, and Dick DeGuerin concurred, "an expert will be able to tell from the angle of the trajectory plus the pattern whether there are entry or exit holes.  If it's in the ceiling and it's clearly an exit hole, it had to come from above.  How else could it have come in?"23/
          At trial Zimmermann, who is an army colonel and Vietnam veteran, described eight or nine bullet holes coming into the ceiling of David Koresh's bedroom in the top floor of the four story tower. "You could see the sky through the roof.  They appeared to be exit holes, and the wood was splintered downward.  My conclusion was that they came from the sky."24/  He held that these holes could not have come from the water tower, which was not as high as the four story tower.  He did acknowledge that bullet holes in the chapel roof could have come from a Davidian shooting from the four story tower.25/

Helicopter Pilots Lied About Circling Mount Carmel Before Raid
          At trial three National Guard helicopter pilots testified.  Captain Bryan Dickens piloted a small OH-58 helicopter which carried another national guardsmen and raid commander SAC Philip Chojnacki.  CWF Doyle L. Stone Jr. piloted another OH-58 which carried two national guardsmen.26/  CW4 Jerry Seagraves piloted the large Blackhawk which carried five guardsmen and eight BATF agents.  BATF agents aboard included Ted Royster, commander of many past aggressive raids and an unofficial commander for this one, and lead investigator Davy Aguilera, who had told Marc Breault that David Koresh should be "put away."27/
          At trial two helicopter pilots claimed that they left the staging area at Texas State Technical College at approximately 9:30 a.m.  However, Captain Dickens revealed that flight log books had been destroyed 90 days after the raid, so he could not verify the time the helicopters left.28/  Pilot Seagraves made the not-very-credible statement it took helicopters 15 to 20 minutes to fly the short six to eight miles to Mount Carmel.  While pilot Stone acknowledged the helicopters flew to a "loiter point" while waiting for "ground forces" to make their way to the "target," pilot Seagraves insisted that the helicopters did not circle Mount Carmel.29/
          However, KWTX-TV cameraman Dan Mulloney and reporter John McLemore told a very different story at trial, one that discredited the testimony of the pilots.  Mulloney testified that the newsmen parked their white bronco about two miles from Mount Carmel as they waited for the helicopters they expected would warn them the raid was imminent.  When Mulloney saw the helicopters, he checked his watch.  It was 9:30 a.m.  During the next 10 to 15 minutes the helicopters "flew behind the compound and made three big loops around the compound."  Between the second and third loops they drove their vehicle closer to Mount Carmel.  When they were a quarter mile away, Mulloney videotaped the helicopters making their third loop as they came in for the raid.  Defense attorneys called John McLemore who repeated the exact same story.30/
          In an interview for Arts and Entertainment television's American Justice series, McLemore and Mulloney complained bitterly that their allegation about the helicopters circling Mount Carmel is "something that BATF and the FBI categorically deny.  They tell us we are lying."31/  However, the Treasury report does repeat KWTX-TV cameraman Peeler's statement he also saw the helicopters between 9:15 and 9:30 a.m. from about a mile east of Mount Carmel.  And it notes that according to Waco Tribune-Herald cellular phone records, at 9:26 a.m. photojournalist Robert Sanchez called his superior to advise him that the helicopters were leaving the staging area.32/  Obviously the helicopters had plenty of time to move to Mount Carmel and circle it several times before the 9:48 a.m. beginning of the raid.
          McLemore and Mulloney have no reason to lie about seeing the helicopter make the three big loops.  However, National Guardsmen might have lied as part of the coverup of their witnessing illegal and deadly firing from their helicopters.  Their lies also cast doubt on their assertions it was Davidians who fired the bullets found in their aircraft.

Did Helicopter Pilots Lie About Overflying Mount Carmel?
          National Guard pilots testified that they approached Mount Carmel flying southwest at approximately 500 feet. However, when they got within 350 to 400 feet, Davidians shot at them so they immediately broke off in a northeast direction.  While one pilot admitted the helicopters were as low as 50 feet off the ground, all stated they never overflew the building.33/
          KWTX-TV video clearly shows the helicopters low on the horizon west of Mount Carmel several minutes into the raid, after agents are in place behind parked vehicles.  In later KWTX-TV footage the cameraman or reporter clearly can be heard to say, "Two of them right over our heads," evidently a reference to aircraft which can be heard noisily flying above them.34/
          At trial cameraman Mulloney stated that after the shooting started, the helicopters were at approximately the same height as Mount Carmel.  He then lost sight of them.  While defense attorneys did not specifically question him about the statement "two of them right over our heads," they did question him about the engine noises evident on the video tape.  Mulloney stated that there was a single-engined aircraft overhead.35/  The Treasury report reveals that the surveillance aircraft started at 2,500 feet and then circled at 1,500 feet in order to "spot shooters."36/  It is possible that on February 28th military spy satellites were taking photographs which could reveal just how many times helicopters circled and whether or not they overflew Mount Carmel.

Did Helicopter Pilots Lie about Shooting from Helicopters?
          Defense attorneys questioned all three helicopter pilots about whether National Guardsmen or BATF agents in the helicopters were armed, whether the doors or windows were open, and whether there was any firing from the helicopters.  Pilots Dickens and Stone in the two small helicopters (one of which held BATF raid commander Philip Chojnacki), both asserted that the doors to their crafts were closed, no one held a loaded weapon or was armed, and that no one fired from the helicopters.37/
          Defense attorneys concentrated their questions on Jerry Seagraves who was the pilot of the Blackhawk helicopter which carried eight BATF agents, including the belligerent Royster and Aguilera.  Seagraves recited the rules--"you cannot have any chambered rounds in the weapon while in the aircraft and no weapon will be discharged from the aircraft."  However, he disclosed that the agents on board were armed.38/
          Seagraves asserted the cargo doors were closed during the whole flight but revealed that the "door gunners window" was opened because a BATF agent was shooting video out of it.  (He said the purpose of that window was to carry an M-60 machinegun but there was no such machinegun.)  Pilot Dickens testified that he saw one agent's head and shoulders hanging out of the window as he shot his video camera.39/
          Seagraves insisted he knew no one fired from the helicopter because he had been in helicopters overseas in Vietnam and would have recognized the sound of such gunfire.  He asserted that no helmet, radios or other gear would have stifled the sound.  One defense attorney, in an attempt to suggest a reason Seagraves might lie about whether there was firing from the helicopters, made Seagraves confess that his national guard pilot job was one of several odd jobs on which he survived.  As a former serviceman, Seagraves also may have put loyalty to the national guard and his comrades above the Constitutional rights of those living in what pilot Stone called the "target."40/

No Real Investigation of Firing from Helicopters
          The investigation of the helicopters' actions after the raid was cursory and concerned with gathering evidence that Davidians fired at and damaged the helicopters, and not the other way round.  Captain Bryan Dickens, the leader of the helicopter squad, debriefed Stone and Seagraves and wrote the only report on the helicopters' activities.  He did not forward his report to the U.S. Attorney or the Texas Rangers.  The March, 1993 Texas Rangers' interview of Seagraves and June, 1993 Treasury agent interview of Stone certainly revealed no new evidence.41/  At trial defense attorneys could not question BATF agents who had been in the helicopters about whether there was firing from the aircraft because Judge Smith effectively prevented the defense from calling Chojnacki, Royster, Aguilera and other agents from the helicopters as witnesses.
          If these BATF agents finally are put under oath and admit their crimes, it will be important that they not be allowed to seek protection by claiming self-defense.  For their justifiable fear of prosecution is a primary motivation for the vicious treatment of the Davidians by federal agents during the 51 days that followed.

DAVIDIANS CLAIM HELICOPTER FIRE KILLED FOUR

          If indiscriminate fire from helicopters, which easily could have escaped a dangerous situation, did kill four people, as Davidians claim, some BATF agents surely would have been prosecuted.  During the siege Davidians, perhaps fearful that it would prompt the kind of assault the FBI eventually launched,  refused to tell the FBI how the following Davidians died.

Peter Hipsman
           Kathryn Schroeder and Jaime Castillo reveal Peter Hipsman, 28, was shot on the fourth floor.  He may have been shot from a helicopter, since the medical examiner revealed that the shots traveled from left to right.42/  The Treasury report states Hipsman received two allegedly non-fatal wounds from "more than four feet," one to the chest and one through an arm.  It claims he was "later killed by a cult member who shot him at close range in the back of his skull--an apparent mercy killing."43/  Kathryn Schroeder claimed that she overheard Neal Vaega say it took "two shots to finish him off."44/  Like Perry Jones, Hipsman probably chose to be killed by friends, rather than by "the beast."

Winston Blake
          Davidians claim Englishman Winston Blake, 28, was sitting on his bed, eating French toast, when a shot from a helicopter came through the north wall and hit him in the head, killing him instantly.45/  As stated previously, Clive Doyle alleges that the bullet passed through a water storage tank outside the room.  (The government claims these water tanks were destroyed by the fire.)  Jaime Castillo saw Blake's body in the room just minutes after the shooting began.46/
          Prosecutors alleged Davidians killed Blake because he would not fight.  However, at trial Kathryn Schroeder, who claimed Jones and Hipsman were put out of their misery by Neal Vaega, did not claim Blake was similarly shot.47/
          The Treasury report alleges Blake died of "craniocerebral trauma," and was shot from a distance of "two to three feet" by a "cult member" using a ".223" bullet.  The Tarrant County Medical Examiners' official autopsy report on Winston Blake describes powder burns around the wound, as if Blake had been shot from a few feet away.  However, an English pathologist conducted a second autopsy on Blake and concluded that Blake had died from a long-range, high-velocity gunshot wound and that the bullet had penetrated a wall before hitting him.  This disturbing finding led to a full fledged, if inconclusive, investigation by Manchester, England, police in 1994 and 1995.48/

Peter Gent
          Davidians assert an unarmed Peter Gent, 24, was cleaning the inside of the water tower, heard the commotion, stuck his head out to see what was going on, and was shot through the heart by an agent in a helicopter.49/  The Treasury report states he died from a "distant" 9-millimeter hydroshock "perforation of aorta gunshot to upper lf. chest."50/  The government denies he was shot from a helicopter.51/
          At trial agent Lowell Sprague said he saw two men armed with long rifles on the water tower and shot at them.  Agent Roger Gutherie, stationed northwest of Mount Carmel, near the hay barn, claimed he actually did shoot an armed man on the water tower.52/  However, the government has never alleged Davidians retrieved Gent's weapon when they buried his body.  And Texas Rangers found only a pistol in the tower and "rifle arms for AR-15 or M-16" near the concrete room.53/

Jaydean Wendell
          Davidians claim Jaydean Wendell, 34, had just finished nursing her baby and was asleep when a bullet shot from a helicopter came through the ceiling and penetrated her skull, killing her.54/  At trial attorney Jack Zimmermann, who visited Mount Carmel during the siege, said he saw bullet holes by the "upper bunk wall" going in the direction of a pool of blood on the bed.  This suggests Wendell was shot from above as she lie in bed.55/ The Treasury report offers no explanation for Jaydean Wendell's death from "craniocerebral trauma" caused by a "distant" shot from a 9-millimeter hydroshock bullet.56/
          At trial Davidian prosecution witness Victorine Hollingsworth testified she saw Wendell come out from her room looking for a gun and return to it with one.  Kathryn Schroeder asserted she saw Wendell's body on the bunk and held her bloody gun.57/  Given the government's desperate efforts to prove that agents were not firing from helicopters, we must wonder if they pressured the women to give this testimony.
          The bodies of Perry Jones, Jaydean Wendell, Winston Blake and Peter Hipsman were buried in the tornado shelter.  The FBI waited a week before they allowed Davidians to bury Peter Gent's body in the yard.  Davidians were furious that FBI tanks ran back and forth over the grave for the next five weeks.58/

NO EVIDENCE BRANCH DAVIDIANS AMBUSHED BATF

          BATF has alleged all along that dozens of Davidians "ambushed" agents on February 28, 1993.  In June, 1993 BATF Intelligence Chief David Troy told Congress: "This issue was unprecedented in the history of American law enforcement, when you had 40 or more persons open fire indiscriminately with automatic weapons at law enforcement, be they state, or local, or federal.  It never happened before."59/  Such BATF ambush allegations repeatedly were disproved at trial.  There is ample evidence Davidians did not ambush BATF.

Koresh Warned Undercover Agent "They're Coming"
          By definition, the Davidians could not have ambushed BATF because BATF commanders and agents knew the Davidians were expecting them.  Both undercover BATF agent Robert Rodriguez, at trial, and Davidian Graeme Craddock, before the grand jury, testified about what happened on Sunday morning, February 28, 1993.  During a Bible study with Rodriguez, Koresh was called away from the room, supposedly to take a long distance phone call from England.  When he returned, he was visibly shaken.  He told Rodriquez that he knew law enforcement was coming.  Graeme Craddock recalls Koresh saying, "Robert, they're coming.  Whether BATF or FBI or whatever, they're coming."  Craddock believes Koresh was trying to warn Rodriguez that some kind of raid was imminent.60/
          At trial Rodriguez said Koresh "told me the ATF and National Guard were coming.  'They got me once. They'll never get me again!"  (Since neither BATF or the national guard had ever arrested or "gotten" Koresh before, Craddock believes this comment was another warning.  Rodriguez grew alarmed as five of six Davidians joined the three already in the room.  Convinced they were going to take him hostage, he considered diving through the window or even taking David Koresh hostage.  However, Davidians made no threatening moves.  When Rodriguez left, Koresh shook his hand as he bid him farewell.61/

Cautious Koresh Warned Few Davidians
          Agent Ballesteros testified that BATF was ambushed because the Davidians did not shoot at them until they were close to the building.62/   Doubtless, David Koresh prudently waited to discover if approaching agents really intended to engage in a shootout or if their intentions were peaceful.  Ballesteros admitted that an unarmed David Koresh came to the front door.63/  This is something no one planning an ambush would attempt.
          Graeme Craddock told the grand jury that he was one of just a few who were given secret information that there might be a raid.  Koresh told Craddock not to fire unless Koresh told him to.  Koresh never did, and Craddock never fired.64/  At trial Kathryn Schroeder testified that before the raid Koresh told women in the chapel to "get back to your rooms and watch," something he would not have told them if he expected shooting from building windows.  She was dressing her children when the shots began.65/  Sheila Martin argues she would not have left her disabled son near a window if she was expecting a gun battle.66/
          At trial prosecutors mocked the Davidians for not using non-violent action when they heard BATF was coming.  They suggested they could have called "9-1-1," gone out in the yard and sung peace songs, quoted the Bible, waved protest signs, or lay down in front of the front gate.67/  Prosecutors did not note the irony of their lecturing citizens on the necessity of using non-violence to defend themselves against brutal government attacks.
          Davidians claim that Paul Fatta had taken many of their guns to a gun show and that most of the rest were boxed to retain their value.68/  Survivors contend few Davidians even were armed at first to return BATF's gunfire.  One who confessed some Davidians returned fire, said: "People were running around everywhere, asking if anybody had any guns.  Nobody had any handy.  Most of what we had was new, still in the box."69/
          After the trial one juror, reacting to the testimony, stated: "They had 45 minutes to get their people positioned, to get the guns all passed out.  It seems to be quite apparent that there was no such plan because of the hustle bustle to get the guns, even after the ATF drove up."70/

Photographs and Video Show Little Fire From Davidians
          Waco Tribune-Herald photographs, which reporter Marc Masferrer testified were all taken within the first 20 to 30 seconds of the raid, show windows intact with screens still in place, and no one in the windows, even as the agents are firing at the home.  During the trial one defense attorney asked if it would not have made sense for persons planning an ambush to remove screens.  Agent Ballesteros acknowledged the photographs showed agents firing at the building, but no people or guns visible in the windows.  Reporter John McLemore said he never saw any Davidians in the windows firing back.  And agent Barbara Maxwell testified she saw Davidian gunfire coming from only two second floor windows during the whole shootout.71/
          One Waco Tribune-Herald photograph shows two agents only a dozen feet from Mount Carmel's front door kneeling and firing.  These agents are not hiding behind cars or fences, as one would expect were they taking heavy gunfire.  Agent Dan Curtis conceded at trial that he could not explain why, if these agents were under such intense gunfire from Davidians, they were not injured or killed.72/  Similarly, KWTX-TV video of agents firing at the front of the building shows no evidence of Davidian gunfire ripping up the ground or striking vehicles.

Two Agents Killed Later in Raid
          BATF Chief of Intelligence David Troy told the press that "in the first two minutes, 16 agents were injured and four were killed," which allegedly supported BATF's contention agents were ambushed.73/  The Treasury report agrees: "Special Agents Steven D. Willis and Robert J. Williams were killed during the ambush."74/
          However, at trial BATF agent Dan Curtis stated Willis ran to the porch area, then retreated behind a green and white Chevy Van and participated in firing at the building for 15 to 20 minutes before being shot.  Agent Sprague confirms this account.75/
          Robert Williams was shot while firing at the building from behind an outside safe on the east side of the building.  Agent Kevin Richardson at trial claimed he was shot from the arms room.  However, KWTX-TV video shows no evidence Davidians are firing from the arms' room in the first minute or so as agents climb the ladder--something agent Buford was forced to concede under cross-examination.  And it is unlikely Davidians gained complete control of that area, and the ability to fire out of its windows, until agents had left it several minutes into the raid.  This indicates Williams, who a defense attorney claimed was firing at Mount Carmel, also was shot later in the raid.76/

Davidians Did Not Use "Tactical Advantage"
          Perched as they were in a large building on a hill with a superior view of all oncoming vehicles, the Davidians had an excellent opportunity to shoot at oncoming vehicles and kill dozens of agents, had they chosen to do so.  They did not.
          Justice Department outside expert Alan A. Stone, M.D. commented: "The BATF investigation reports that the so-called `dynamic entry' turned into what is described as being `ambushed'.  As I tried to get a sense of the state of mind and behavior of the people in the compound the idea that the Davidians' actions were considered an `ambush' troubled me.  If they were militants determined to ambush and kill as many ATF agents as possible, it seemed to me that given their firepower, the devastation would have been even worse. . .The ATF agents brought to the compound in cattle cars could have been cattle going to slaughter if the Davidians had taken full advantage of their tactical superiority."77/
          During the trial Kathryn Schroeder testified that none of the exterior walls had been fortified with hay or barricaded until after the initial ATF attack.  Davidians then did so because everyone was frightened.78/

Davidians Called 9-1-1
          One minute after BATF agents charged out of their cattle trucks Davidian Wayne Martin, a Harvard-educated attorney, did what most Americans do when they are under criminal attack--he called 9-1-1.  His desperate cries become etched in the minds of those who hear them: "There are about 75 men around our building shooting at us in Mount Carmel.  Tell them there are children and women in here and to call if off!  Call it off!"
          McLennan County Sheriff's Lieutenant Lynch, who BATF had assigned to the "minor" role of fielding any calls about the raid that might come from neighbors or motorists, ended up playing a critical role.  However, because his only contact, Sheriff's Lieutenant Barber, had turned off his radio, it took Lynch nearly 40 minutes to establish even indirect contact between the Davidians and BATF.79/
           On the 9-1-1 tapes Martin and other Davidians plead with Lieutenant Lynch to stop BATF's shooting, even as Lynch desperately tries to contact BATF.  BATF continues shooting even after contact is established, Martin skillfully arranges a cease-fire and Davidians have passed the word on cease-fire.  Played for the jury, an hour of the 9-1-1 tape was the most compelling evidence that the Davidians had not ambushed BATF agents but were fighting back in self-defense.

DAVIDIANS HAD LEGAL RIGHT TO SELF-DEFENSE

          A few Davidians fought back against what they considered to be a murderous assault by unknown attackers.  David Koresh told his attorney Dick DeGuerin in their March 28th audio taped telephone conversation: "I don't care who they are, nobody is going to come to my home, with my babies around, shaking guns around, without a gun back in their face.  That's just the American way."80/
          Davidian Stan Sylvia, who was in California the day of the raid, expressed his feelings on national television: "These people were on their own property.  That didn't give the government right to come in shooting. . .For once in people's lives they stood up for God and what they believed."81/
          BATF's excessive force in attempting to deliver search and arrest warrants--warrants they did not even have with them--gave Davidians the right to use armed force in self-defense, even if it resulted in the deaths of some attacking agents.  The Firearm Owners Protection Act of 1986 recognizes the Common Law rule of self-defense, which is that the defender must have reasonable belief that the circumstances of immediate danger warrant self-defense.  And Section 9.31 of the Texas Penal Codes states: "The use of force to resist an arrest or search is justified: (1) If, before the actor offers any resistance, the peace officer (or persons acting at his direction) uses or attempts to use greater force than necessary to make the arrest or search; and (2) When and to the degree the actor reasonably believes the force is immediately necessary to protect himself against the peace officer's (or other person's) use or attempted use of greater force than necessary."82/
          Dick DeGuerin, who believed he would have obtained an acquittal of David Koresh had he lived, explained, "if a warrant is being unlawfully executed by the use of excessive force, you or I or anybody else has a right to resist that unlawful force.  If someone's trying to kill you, even under the excuse that they have a warrant, you have a right to defend yourself with deadly force, and to kill that person."83/
          One of the Justice Department's handpicked outside experts, Dr. Robert Cancro, suggested Davidians were within their rights to defend themselves.  "Certainly an armed assault by 100 agents had to be seen as an attack independent of who fired the first shot.  If an armed individual enters your home by force and you have reason to believe that person represents a mortal threat, you are allowed to fire a weapon in self-defense in most states.  The law does not usually allow the potential attacker to fire first before a response can be called self-defense."84/
          Davidian survivor Clive Doyle, who as acquitted at trial, told an interviewer: "I believe there were a few people who grabbed some weapons.  I believe they retaliated because Perry and David had both been shot at the front door without being armed.  I guess some people took the stand that they were defending the women, the children, and their teacher.  You might say it was in self-defense, or a reaction to seeing people gunned down for no reason."85/
          Imprisoned Davidian Livingstone Fagan has written: "Our use of these guns were with restraint and strictly defensive.  It is tragic that people were harmed, but were our intentions anything but defensive, the death toll would have been much higher."86/

QUESTIONABLE EVIDENCE DAVIDIANS USED MACHINEGUNS OR GRENADES

          The Treasury report alleges "unrelenting automatic and semi-automatic weapons fire" from the Branch Davidians.87/  At trial agents Dan Curtis, Kris Mayfield, Robert Champion, Lowell Sprague, Clay Alexander, Larry Shriver, Gerald Petrilli, Samuel Cohen and Bill Buford all testified they heard machinegun fire coming from the Davidians.88/  However, BATF's MP-5s, which fire two shots per trigger pull, also are, and sound like, machineguns.
          FBI weapons expert James Cadigan acknowledged there was no way to tell if the few bullet holes found in cars facing Mount Carmel were made with automatic or regular weapons.89/  A defense attorney pointed out that if 50 Davidians used fully automatic weapons "we wouldn't have four [agents] dead, we'd have 75 dead."90/  Another attorney said that if the Davidians had ambushed BATF, "Those trailers would have looked like Bonnie and Clyde's car, but they didn't."91/
          After the raid BATF spokespeople continually claimed there was .50 caliber machinegun fire--it was their primary excuse for keeping the press far from Mount Carmel.  However, while agents Dan Curtis, Kris Mayfield, Kevin Richardson, Gerald Petrilli and Timothy Gabourie all alleged they heard .50 caliber gunfire, only agents Curtis and Petrilli alleged they heard .50 caliber machinegun fire.  After the fire Texas Rangers found two legal .50 caliber rifles.  At trial FBI weapons expert James Cadigan was forced to admit that he did not find any .50 caliber cartridge cases with firing pin impressions, indicating that no .50 caliber was fired during the 51 days.92/
            In early March, 1993 BATF officials alleged that "two of the wounded agents were hit by fragments of hand grenades lobbed from the compound."93/  Only one of those agents, Gerald Petrilli, testified.  But he was unsure what had hit him, describing it as, "a shotgun round, explosive device or something."94/

EVIDENCE FRIENDLY FIRE INJURED OR KILLED SOME AGENTS

          It is obvious that frightened, excited and angry agents were firing wildly from the undercover house, from behind vehicles and structures surrounding the building and, very probably, from helicopters.  With all that gunfire, it is inevitable that BATF agents injured, and even killed, some of their own.  In fact, the April 5, 1993 Newsweek reported that a "federal source" in Waco stated "there is evidence that supports the theory of friendly fire," and that during the assault "there was a huge amount of crossfire."95/  Another highly placed federal source told James Pate, "about half of ATF casualties in the raid apparently resulted from `friendly fire'."96/  After these statements were made to the press, BATF placed a gag order on its agents.

BATF Agents Admitted Friendly Fire On Roof
          There is one known case--and several suspected ones--of friendly fire on agents who climbed to the second story roof over the chapel and tried to enter what had been, months before, Koresh's second floor living quarters--a bedroom on the west side and an arms' room on the east side.  The Treasury report and trial versions of two agents killed on the roof, near the bedroom is substantially different from the version BATF originally released, which held that three agents were killed in the arms room.97/  The Treasury report concedes, "Contrary to some publicly disseminated reports, none of the agents that entered the armory were killed."98/  Some are convinced that the original BATF report is true and the government is trying to coverup extensive friendly fire on the roof.  The fact that both BATF helicopter and KWTX-TV video seems to have been cut at crucial moments only reinforces this suspicion.
          At trial agent Kenneth King testified that on the west side of the roof, away from the KWTX-TV camera, agent Conway LeBleu's gunfire "covered" himself, David Millen and Todd McKeehan as they tried to break into what they thought was David Koresh's bedroom on the west side of the roof.  However, as soon as the agents--who never yelled "police" or "search warrant"--broke the window, someone in the back of the room shot at them.  They did not even get a chance to throw their flash-bang in the room to disorient the shooter.  King was shot, McKeehan and LeBleu were killed.99/  The government claims all were shot by Davidians; others speculate some could have been shot by BATF wildfire, including that from helicopters.
          Agents Bill Buford, Glen Jordan and Keith Constantino threw a flash-bang into and entered the old arms' room on the east side.  They admitted great confusion in the room as they and one or more Davidians exchanged gunfire.  They claim to have shot two Davidians inside.  Buford estimated he fired a total of 40 to 50 shots and that Constantino fired 20-30.100/  (Davidian David Thibodeau confirmed deceased Davidian Scott Sonobe participated in an exchange of gunfire with agents.  Jaime Castillo heard that David Koresh was the second Davidian shot there.101/)
          Constantino testified that he had heard that a portion of the bullet removed from Agent Jordan was a 9-millimeter hydroshock bullet like his own and acknowledged "it's possible" he may have shot Jordan.102/  (F.B.I. agent Cadigan confirmed that the Q-87 bullet found in Jordan came from a Sig-Saur, the gun carried by Constantino.)  Under cross-examination Constantino at first asserted that Jordan did not go into his line of fire and might have been hit by a richochet.  Later he conceded that he had been behind Jordan at one point so he could have shot him directly.103/
          There is some evidence of coverup in this incident, as in so many others.  Prosecutors never called Jordan, the man most likely to know whether agents or Davidians shot him, to the stand.  And Constantino revealed that he shared a room with Buford for several days before Texas Rangers interviewed them, giving them a chance to compare notes and alter their stories.104/
          Video evidence of apparent friendly fire on the roof comes from KWTX-TV video of agent Millen on the roof.  After the three agents in his team were shot, Millen ran back to the east side of the roof, to the arms room window where Buford, Constantino and Jordan had entered.  The Treasury report merely notes that he "stood guard."105/  However, video clearly shows Millen pull back the curtain of the armory and either try to, or actually shoot into, the room.  (Both "Waco, the Big Lie" videos claim Millen threw something into the room; however, that does not appear to be true and neither Davidians nor Jack Zimmermann claimed to have seen evidence of a second grenade.  Similarly, many doubt the agent climbing the ladder shot himself in the leg, as the video claims.)  After Millen raises the curtain, there is a barrage of return gunfire through the wall out toward him.  At trial defense attorneys asked Buford whether Constantino had shot at Millen, but he denied it.106/
          It was right after Millen shot in the window that bullets began to fly down into the roof of the second story arms' room--bullets possibly fired by BATF agents in helicopters.  Millen rolled onto the roof and then slid down the ladder.
          If Millen did shoot into the room, he might have injured the other agents.  And if it were agents shooting back at him, he barely may have escaped being a victim of friendly fire.  The Treasury report's list of injured agents did not include Millen.

Deaths of BATF Agents
          Official autopsy reports on the two agents who died on the roof show that most of the bullets that killed them passed through their bodies, mostly from above and in a downward direction.  Conway LeBleu, who two agents testified had been firing at Davidians in the tower, had four entry wounds, including one to the head.  Medical examiner Nizaam Peerwani, M.D., testified that LeBleu also might have shot himself in the face while falling.  Found in his body were "a flattened fragment of projective jacket with adherent core material" and "a distorted small caliber full jacketed projectile."107/  Todd McKeehan, who was helping King smash into Koresh's old bedroom, had one bullet wound to the chest in which Peerwani found "a deformed fully jacketed bullet. . .(consistent with a .223)."108/
          At trial defense attorneys inferred that the two agents on the ground who were killed could have been shot by friendly fire.109/ As we have seen, there is definitive evidence that agent Steven Willis was killed approximately 20 minutes into the raid, after firing numerous shots at Mount Carmel.  At trial Nizaam Peerwani, M.D., identified the bullet that hit Willis' left temple as a 7.62 round.
          Robert Williams, who was shooting from behind a safe on the east side of the building, died from a gunshot wound to the head.  Marc A. Krouse's autopsy reported no bullets or fragments found in Williams' body.  Had he been killed by friendly fire, it is possible medical examiners would have turned the incriminating bullets over to BATF agents before the Texas Rangers were assigned to lead the investigation.

No Attempt to Determine Source of Bullets
          BATF formed a "shooting review team" to get details of agents actions on February 28th but the U.S. Attorneys office ordered them to shut it down because it was duplicating their investigations.110/  However, at trial agents claimed that this job really was given to the Texas Rangers because they were more independent.111/  Nevertheless, FBI weapons expert James J. Cadigan acknowledged that all Texas Rangers evidence actually was turned over to FBI laboratories.
          The FBI could not compare bullets and fragments from injured and dead BATF agents to bullets fired from Davidian guns, which were burned in the fire.  FBI agent Cadigan's testimony suggests the FBI did not bother to test BATF guns to compare them to bullets which wounded agents, though pathologists noted in their autopsy reports that bullets and fragments had been forwarded to the crime laboratory.112/  The Treasury report notes that besides the four agents killed by gunshot, 20 agents were wounded, 7 by shrapnel and 13 by gunshot.113/  Therefore there should have been a number of bullets available for testing by the FBI.

BATF SNIPERS KILLED RETURNING MICHAEL SCHROEDER

          Woodrow Kendrick, Norman Allison and Michael Schroeder were at the Davidians' rented garage, the Mag Bag, three miles from Mount Carmel Center, when they heard about the raid.  Around 5:00 p.m. the three approached Mount Carmel on foot from the northwest in an effort to re-enter the property and check on their families and friends.  They came upon BATF agents moving away from the hay barn and towards the evacuation point.  According to the Treasury report, "When the agents identified themselves as federal agents, the cult members opened fire.  After a prolonged exchange of gunfire, one of the three cult members surrendered."114/  (The Justice Department report claims the three "ambushed" BATF agents and were attempting to "shoot their way into the compound."115/
          However, at trial agents alleged that only Schroeder had shot at them.  It was revealed that while Norman Allison was carrying a gun zipped inside his clothes, he never took it out or fired it.  And sniper Roger Gutherie testified that while he had Woodrow Kendrick in his gun sight, he did not fire because he could not see if Kendrick had a gun.116/
          BATF agents testified that after Schroeder fired at the 14 agents, they returned fire.  The Treasury report notes Schroeder died of six gunshot wounds, two of them to the head and three to the back.117/  Allison surrendered and Kendrick left the area.  BATF agents did not pursue him but did label him an escapee.
          Neither Allison nor Kendrick, who were acquitted at trial, have been outspoken about the day's events.  Yet troubling evidence suggests that angry BATF agents may have shot an unarmed Schroeder, assassinated the wounded man, planted a gun and shells around his body, and impeded the Texas Rangers' investigation in order to cover up their crime.

Did BATF Agents Shoot First?
          At trial BATF agent Wayne Appelt disclosed that after the morning gun battle, the agents in the barn area, most of whom were out of sight of Mount Carmel, had heard radio traffic about wounded agents, seen the wounded being removed, and discussed what had happened among themselves.118/  Agent Guthrie, who claimed to have shot Davidian Peter Gent already, stated that when agents left the barn they were looking for "hostiles."119/
           After the shooting, agents were so convinced that Schroeder, Allison and Kendrick were perpetrators trying to leave Mount Carmel that they refused to believe Allison's assertion the Davidians were trying to enter the property.120/  BATF even released the story that Davidians were trying to shoot their way out of Mount Carmel.121/)
          Given their certainty that they had perpetrators in sight, it is quite possible that after yelling "police" at the three men--who were over 40 yards away and might not have been able to hear them clearly--they began shooting.  BATF agent Wayne Appelt claimed he saw a man--Michael Schroeder--in the ravine shooting at them; agent Jimmy Brigance admitted that he could not tell if Schroeder had a gun--nevertheless he asserted Schroeder shot several shots; agent Jeffrey Pearce testified he heard shots coming from Schroeder's direction.122/  At trial defense attorneys brought out that these agents had from three to ten days between the incident and their interviews by Texas Rangers to concoct such a story.123/

Did Agents Assassinate the Wounded Schroeder?
          Neither the Treasury report nor agents at trial mentioned any attempt to see if Schroeder was injured, dying, or dead, immediately after the shooting.  It is possible that after most agents left the area with their captive, Norman Allison, two or three agents did in fact find Schroeder--and kill the wounded man.
          Four agents--Wayne Appelt, Jeffrey Pearce, Charles Myers and Roger Gutherie--testified they heard gunshots in the distance as they left the area; two mentioned hearing two gunshots.  Prosecutors tried to blame the gunfire on the fleeing Woodrow Kendrick--a slow-moving old man with a heart condition.124/
          Defense attorney questioning pointed to the theory that agents approached the wounded Schroeder, shot him twice in the head, and then removed his blue stocking cap, which would have contained powder burns had he been shot at close range.  Schroeder's autopsy report shows two close-spaced bullet wounds at and above the right ear.  A photograph of Mike Schroeder's body at the site of his death showed him wearing what looked like the blue stocking cap which agents Appelt and Pearce described.  However, the medical examiner revealed he always looks for powder marks in shooting cases.  He testified that he never received the blue cap, and that had Schroeder been shot at close range wearing the cap, it could have absorbed the evidence of such powder marks.125/

Did Schroeder Have a Gun?
          On March 3, 1993 the FBI sent a helicopter to find Michael Schroeder's body.  BATF agent Roger Guthrie testified that he went with them to find the body "left there."  Gutherie claims the helicopter set down by Schroeder's body, he jumped out, grabbed a Glock 17 semi-automatic pistol and magazine laying next to the body, and then flew off in the helicopter.126/  Prosecutors proved that Schroeder had bought two Glock 17s, but did not establish that either was the gun allegedly found near Schroeder's body.127/
          While the Justice Department report claims that Schroeder's body was "retrieved" that day, March 3rd, David Byrnes, head of the Texas Rangers investigation team testified that it was not until March 5th or 6th (he could not remember the date) that the FBI could arrange transport in a Bradley vehicle to actually retrieve the body.  (The autopsy was conducted a March 5, 1993.)128/  Ranger Thomas Almond testified that when he got to the body he found a stun gun next to it.  Almond did not explain why a man supposedly carrying a pistol also would be armed with, and evidently holding, a stun gun.
          Almond also testified that on the hillside where the agents were shooting he found 72 shell casings, one live shotgun shell and two shotgun casings.  He found only four projectiles between the body and agents, and he did not know if these were from agents or Schroeder.129/  Evidently the FBI did not test these bullets, either.

Why did FBI Impede Texas Rangers' Investigation?
          According to the Justice report, for ten days after Michael Schroeder's body was recovered, FBI siege commander SAC Jeff Jamar refused to allow the Texas Rangers to finish investigating the area where Schroeder was killed, something which greatly angered Texas Rangers.130/  This permitted wind and weather to eliminate footprints which might indicate whether Schroeder had turned toward or fired in the direction of BATF agents, or whether several agents had approached Schroeder as he lay wounded.
           The lies that BATF and the Treasury Department have told about Schroeder's death, retrieval of a gun by BATF agents who left the body at the scene, the missing stocking cap, and the FBI's interfering with the investigation, all suggest that BATF and the FBI are covering up the intentional homicide of Michael Schroeder.  The fact that the government prosecuted Allison and Kendrick, both of whom were acquitted, on such little evidence, suggests the two men were charged as part of the coverup of the crime.

DESTRUCTION OF THE "MAG BAG"

          On March 3, 1993 BATF agents served a search warrant on the Mag Bag.  In heavy-handed fashion, BATF used Bradley fighting vehicles.  Agent Danny Dwight testified that vehicles "gently" nudged open the Mag Bag's doors.  However, defense attorneys confronted Dwight with photos showing crumpled metal and gaping holes and he confessed that the vehicles "pushed in the front of the building."
          During the search the building owner, who was not a Davidian, pleaded with BATF agents to use the key and not to damage the structure.  He was later arrested for creating a disturbance.131/  After BATF broke into the garage, thousands of dollars in specialty tools and three $600 air compressors disappeared, possibly looted by BATF agents.132/

FOOTNOTES

1.          Trial transcript. pgs. 144-45.
2.          Jaime Castillo, private communication, January, 1994.
3.          Judy Schneider, March 8, 1993 "home movie"; Treasury Department report, p. 104.
4.          Trial transcript, p. 511.
5.          Treasury Department report, p. 95.
6.          Trial transcript, pgs. 3170, 3228, 3277.
7.           David Thibodeau, private communication, December, 1994;  Cause Foundation lawsuit (February 24, 19c94), p. 26; Clark lawsuit (February 25, 1995), p. 28; Caddell & Conwell lawsuit (July 26, 1994), p. 19.
8.          Kirk Lyons, Cause Foundation, private communication, June, 1994.
9.          "Mitchells in the Morning" show, National Empowerment Television, May 31, 1995.
10.          Marjorie Thomas testimony, November 17-18, 1993, pgs. 27-29, 144, 181, 197, 200; trial transcript, p. 3292.
11.          Gary Null, April, 1994, p. 33; Jaime Castillo, private communication, May, 1995.
12.          J. Michael Kennedy and Louis Sahagun, March 30, 1993, A17.
13.          "Koresh defends actions in tape of interview," Dallas Morning News, May 28, 1993, 36A.
14.          Dr. Philip Arnold, private communication, June, 1995.
15.          Sue Anne Pressley, May 5, 1993, A17.
16.          Trial transcript, p. 4616, 4618.
17.          June 16, 1994 trial transcript, p. 147.
18.          Ibid. pgs. 137-38; David Thibodeau, private communication, July, 1995.
19.          Jack DeVault, transcript of 9-1-1 tape, p. 223.
20.           Trial transcript, pgs. 6481-82, 6504.
21.          Trial transcript, pgs. 2545, 2727.
22.           Ibid. pgs. 3327-28.
23.          New York Times, April 5, 1993, A10.
24.          "Defense Rests Without Calling Cultists," New York Times, February 18, 1994.
25.          Trial transcript, pgs. 6646, 6795-96.
26.          Ibid. pgs. 3230, 3255.
27.          Clifford L. Linedecker, p. 27; Kirk Lyons, private communication, June, 1994; James L. Pate, June, 1994, p. 33; trial transcript, p. 3192.
28.           Trial transcript, pgs. 3162, 3230, 3284.
29.          Ibid. pgs. 3231, 3212, 3256.
30.          Ibid. pgs. 3314-3317, 6547-54.
31.          "American Justice" program, "Attack at Waco," August 3, 1994.
32.          Treasury report, p. 92.
33.          Trial transcript, pgs. 3162, 3178, 3184, 3202-03, 3226, 3256, 3297.
34.          The first video shot can be seen in "Waco, the Big Lie."  It is referred to in the trial transcript, p. 3179.  The second is in "Waco, the Big Lie Continues."
35.          Trial transcript, pgs. 3322, 3334, 3346.
36.          Treasury report, p. 172.
37.          Trial transcript, pgs. 3225, 3266, 3275.
38.          Ibid. pgs. 3161, 3185.
39.          Ibid. pgs. 3164-65, 3295.
40.          Ibid. pgs. 3164-65, 3209, 3231.
41.          Ibid. pgs. 3199, 3234, 3246, 3281-82.
42.          Trial transcript, pgs. 4477, 5992; Jaime Castillo, private communication, March, 1994.
43.          Treasury Department report, p. 101.
44.          New York Times, February 6, 1994.
45.          David Thibodeau, private communication, January, 1995.
46.          Trial transcript, pgs. 3058-59.
47.          Ibid. p. 7312.
48.          Treasury Department report, p. 104; "British Police Slam Davidian Siege," The Balance, newsletter of the Cause Foundation, March-April, 1995, p. 2.
49.          Ron Cole, Sinister Twilight, (Portland, OR: Augie Enriquez, 1993), p. 48.
50.          Treasury Department report, p. 104.
51.          Brad Bailey and Bob Darden, pgs. 172-73.
52.          Trial transcript, pgs. 2212-13, 3828.
53.          Ibid. pgs. 6053, 6057.
54.          James L. Pate, "What the Feds Don't Want you to Know about Waco," Soldier of Fortune, October, 1993, pgs. 101-02; New York Times, April 5, 1993, A10.
55.          Trial transcript, p. 6603.
56.          Treasury Department report, p. 104.
57.          Trial transcript, pgs. 4093-94, 4490.
58.          David Thibodeau, private communication, July, 1994.
59.          House Appropriations subcommittee hearing, June 9, 1993, p. 173.
60.           Trial transcript, p. 6384.
61.          Ibid. pgs. 3394-95, 3407-10; Graeme Craddock, private communication, July, 1995.
62.          Ibid. p. 1382.
63.          Ibid. pgs. 1377, 1381.
64.          Ibid. pgs. 6386-90.
65.          Ibid. pgs. 4459-62.
66.          "Day 51" video; Dan McGraw, "One True Believer's Trials and Tribulations," U.S. News & World Report, January 17, 1994.
67.          Trial transcript, pgs. 7074, 7313, 7345; June 16-17, 1995 trial transcript, p. 191.
68.          Ron Cole, Sinister Twilight, (Portland, Or: Augie Enriquez), p. 32.
69.          James L. Pate, October, 1993, p. 102.
70.          Teresa Talerico, March 3, 1994.
71.          Trial transcript, pgs. 1929, 1480-88, 1850-51, 1858, 6554, 2270.
72.          Trial transcript, pgs. 1850-51, 1858.
73.          Roy Bragg, "Ill-fated ATF raid: the beginning of the end," Houston Chronicle, April 20, 1993, 17A.
74.          Treasury Department report, p. 100.
75.          Trial transcript, pgs. 2069, 2216-17.
76.          Ibid. pgs. 2006, 2242, 2691, 2728, 7165, 2704.
77.          Alan A. Stone, M.D. report to Justice Department in Report and Recommendations Concerning the Handling of Incidents Such As the Branch Davidian Standoff in Waco, Texas, November 8, 1993, pgs. 18-19.
78.          Ken Fawcett, p. 26.
79.          Treasury Department report, p. 105.
80.          Houston Chronicle, May 28, 1993.
81.          Maury Povich television show, November 8, 1993.
82.          Larry Pratt report, p. 6.
83.          Houston Press, July 22, 1993.
84.          Robert Cancro report to the Justice Department, 1993, p. 3.
85.          Gary Null, April, 1994, p. 33.
86.          Livingstone Fagan paper, August, 1994, p. 15.
87.          Treasury Department report, p. 101.
88.          Trial transcript, pgs. 1744, 1957, 1966, 2064-67, 2077, 2091, 2142, 2222, 2331, 2405, 2523, 2689, 2706.
89.          Ibid. p. 1223.
90.          Ibid. p. 7269.
91.          Teresa Talerico, "Attonreys give closing arguments," Waco Tribune-Herald, February 21, 1994, 10A.
92.          Trial transcript, pgs. 1251, 1558, 1744-46, 2000, 2331, 2463.
93.          Mary Jordan and Sue Anne Pressley, "Cult Leader Wants to Die a Martyr in `All-Out Firefight,'" Washington Post, March 9, 1993.
94.          Trial transcript, p. 2363.
95.          "Was It Friendly Fire?", Newsweek, April 5, 1993, p. 50.
96.          James L. Pate, July, 1993, p. 53.
97.          Jennifer Nagorka, "Agents seen on roof in video were among ATF casualties," Dallas Morning News, March 3, 1993; Newsweek, March 15, 1993, p. 54.
98.          Treasury Department report, p. 100.
99.          Trial transcript, pgs. 2545-2550.
100.          Ibid. pgs. 2840-50.
101.          David Thibodeau on "A Current Affair" television program, May 3, 1993; Jaime Castillo, private communication, January and February, 1995.
102.          Trial transcript, pgs. 2582-83.
103.          Ibid. pgs. 2852-3, 2874-5, 6125.
104.          Ibid. pgs. 2854-5.
105.          Treasury Department report, p. 98; trial transcript, p. 2737.
106.          Trial transcript, p. 2740.
107.          Ibid. pgs. 2545, 3154, 5998, 6002-37; Marc A. Krouse, M.D. autopsy report.
108.          Trial transcript, p. 5998; Nizaam Peerwani, M.D. autopsy report.
109.          New York Times, January 17, 1994; trial transcript, pgs. 116-22.
110.          Treasury report, p. 197.
111.          Trial transcript, pgs. 2384-6, 3658.
112.          Ibid. pgs. 1247, 1257-58.
113.          Treasury Department report, p. 102.
114.          Ibid. p. 111.
115.          Justice Department report, p. 25.
116.          Trial transcript, p. 3842; "Ranger Says FBI Moved Evidence at Davidian Site," San Antonio Express-News, January 13, 1994.
117.          Treasury Department report, p. 104; trial transcript, p. 3835.
118.          Trial transcript, pgs. 3524-25.
119.          Ibid. p. 3844.
120.          Ibid. pgs. 3631, 3729.
121.          Ibid. p. 3631; "The Seven Week Siege," Washington Post, April 20, 1993, A8.
122.          Trial transcript, pgs. 3620, 3666, 3699, 3746.
123.          Ibid. pgs. 685, 698.
124.          Ibid. pgs. 3623, 3666, 3795, 3833, 3795.
125.          Ibid. pgs. 3618, 3668, 6011-13, 6047; Nizaam Peerwani, M.D., autopsy report.
126.          Ibid. 3822-23.
127.          Ibid. pgs. 1105, 4037.
128.          Justice Department report, p. 38; trial transcript, p. 642.
129.          Trial transcript, pgs. 3863-64.
130.          Justice Department report, p. 229.
131.          Scott W. Wright, "Agent Says Armored Vehicles Used on Shop to Ensure `Safety'," Austin American Statesman, February 1, 1994.
132.          James L. Pate, July, 1994, p. 49.